Classical Syriac Phonology

This book provides a description of Classical Syriac phonology based on fully vocalized biblical texts and the detailed comments by medieval Syriac grammarians. In addition to a description of Syriac consonants and vowels (including vowel quantity and stress), there are chapters on the compararive Semitic background of Syriac phonology and the grammatical features of the pre-classical inscriptions, and comparison with both eastern and western varieties of Jewish Aramaic. The modern dialect of Turoyo is also examined, and two appendices discuss the traditional pronunciation of West Syriac and the pronunciation of Modern Literary Syriac, and offer a sketch of Turoyo phonology.

This book provides a description of Classical Syriac phonology based on fully vocalized biblical texts and the detailed comments by medieval Syriac grammarians.

In addition to a description of Syriac consonants and vowels (including vowel quantity and stress), there are chapters on the compararive Semitic background of Syriac phonology and the grammatical features of the pre-classical inscriptions, and comparison with both eastern and western varieties of Jewish Aramaic. The modern dialect of Turoyo is also examined, and two appendices discuss the traditional pronunciation of West Syriac and the pronunciation of Modern Literary Syriac, and offer a sketch of Turoyo phonology.

This book provides a description of Classical Syriac phonology based on fully vocalized biblical texts and the detailed comments by medieval Syriac grammarians.

In addition to a description of Syriac consonants and vowels (including vowel quantity and stress), there are chapters on the compararive Semitic background of Syriac phonology and the grammatical features of the pre-classical inscriptions, and comparison with both eastern and western varieties of Jewish Aramaic. The modern dialect of Turoyo is also examined, and two appendices discuss the traditional pronunciation of West Syriac and the pronunciation of Modern Literary Syriac, and offer a sketch of Turoyo phonology.

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Biography

Ebbe Knudsen

Ebbe E. Knudsen is emeritus professor of Semitic languages at the University of Oslo, Norway. His research has focused on Semitic, including Aramaic linguistics.

Table of Contents (page 5)

Foreword (page 9)

Abbreviations - Literature (page 11)

Abbreviations - General (page 15)

Abbreviations - Biblical Books (page 17)

1 Preliminaries (page 19)

a The problem of reconstructing Syriac phonology (page 19)

b The phases of the Syriac language (page 21)

c The sources for reconstructing Syriac phonology (page 23)

d Syriac consonants and Semitic comparative evidence (page 28)

e The Jewish Aramaic evidence (page 34)

f Summary of chapter 1 (page 35)

2 Features of Early Syriac (page 37)

a The language of the early inscriptions (page 37)

b Vowel reduction in unstressed open syllables (page 39)

c Qussaya and rukkaxa (page 42)

d Phonological aspects of spirantization (page 43)

e The dating of spirantization (page 47)

f Irregular use of qussaya in verbal forms (page 49)

g Reflexes of vowel reduction: The prosthetic alaf (page 54)

h Summary of chapter 2 (page 57)

3 Consonants (page 59)

a Inventory of consonants (page 59)

b. Consonant incompatibility (page 63)

c Emphasis (page 64)

d East Syriac p and f (page 66)

e Greek consonants (page 69)

f The evidence for p (page 70)

g Consonant length (page 73)

h Interchange of ' and the semivowels w and y (page 75)

i Summary of chapter 3 (page 76)

4 Assimilation and Dissimilation of Consonants (page 79)

a Voice assimilation. The rules of medieval grammarians (page 79)

b Voice assimilation. Examples (page 81)

c Emphasis assimilation and loss of emphasis (page 85)

d. Other types of assimilation (page 88)

e Dissimilation of interdental fricatives (page 89)

f Summary of chapter 4 (page 91)

5 Vowels (page 93)

a Inventory of vowels (page 93)

b The early vowel notation by Jacob of Edessa (page 94)

c A historical evaluation of the early vowel notation (page 101)

d The eastern vowels in early biblical orthography (page 104)

e The vocalization of British Museum Add. 12138 (page 105)

f. The importance of Add. 12138 for phonology (page 112)

g The e vowels in the eastern orthography of lexical texts (page 114)

h The rounding of a to a (page 117)

i Early Syriac e (page 118)

j List of nouns and adjectives with e (page 126)

k Greek and Latin o (page 136)

l Summary of chapter 5 (page 137)

6 The Auxiliary Vowel (page 139)

a The statement by Bar Hebraeus: West Syriac (page 139)

b The statement by Bar Hebraeus: East Syriac (page 140)

c The early East Syriac biblical evidence (page 143)

d The late East Syriac biblical evidence (page 144)

e Shift of auxiliary vowels to full vowels (page 150)

f Secondary vowels in numbers 11-19 (page 152)

g Summary of chapter 6 (page 155)

7 Vowels and Vowel Quantity (page 161)

a Syriac and Jewish Aramaic (page 161)

b The Tiberian Hebrew evidence (page 163)

c The statement by Bar Hebraeus (page 164)

d Summary of chapter 7 (page 170)

8 Stress (page 173)

a Reflexes of word stress (page 173)

b Reflexes of stress in word formation (page 174)

c Summary of chapter 8 (page 175)

9 Appendix: The Modern Pronunciation of the West Syriac Literary Language (page 177)

A truly useful introduction to the Syriac language is a rare find. This practical initiation to the study of this ancient language of the Christian church speaks with clarity and authority. A fruitful integration of scholarly introduction and practical application, this primer is more than a simple grammar or syntactic introduction to the language. Written in a style designed for beginners, Kiraz avoids technical language and strives for a reader-friendly inductive approach. Readings from actual Syriac texts allow the student to experience the language first hand and the basics of the grammar of the language are ably explained. The book comes with downloadable material so that readers may listen to all reading sentences and text passages in the book.

The Pocket Dictionary is both a convenient academic resource and a door into the world of Modern Literary Syriac. With 13,000 entries drawn from the major existing works, it is a practical tool for all but the most specialized Classical Syriac texts.

A Short History

The dot is used for everything in Syriac from tense to gender, number, and pronunciation, and unsurprisingly represents one of the biggest obstacles to learning the language. Using inscriptions, early grammars, and experiments with modern scribes, Dr. Kiraz peels back the evolution of the dot layer by layer to explain each of its uses in detail and to show how it adopted the wide range of uses it has today.

As the first two-way Syriac-English/English-Syriac dictionary, the Concise Dictionary is both a convenient academic resource and a door into the world of Modern Literary Syriac. With 13,000 entries drawn from the major existing works, the Syriac-English section is a practical tool for all but the most specialized Classical Syriac texts, while the English-Syriac entries open up new opportunities for scholars to compose their own texts and to participate in modern Syriac usage.

This volume, the first in a comprehensive grammar of the Syriac language, is a thematic presentation of orthography in the Syriac grammatical tradition, bringing the study of Syriac writing closer to modern linguistic accounts of writing systems.

A Short History

The dot is used for everything in Syriac from tense to gender, number, and pronunciation, and unsurprisingly represents one of the biggest obstacles to learning the language. Using inscriptions, early grammars, and experiments with modern scribes, Dr. Kiraz peels back the evolution of the dot layer by layer to explain each of its uses in detail and to show how it adopted the wide range of uses it has today.

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Gorgias Press is an independent academic publisher specializing in the history and religion of the Middle East and the larger pre-modern world. We are run by scholars, for scholars, who believe strongly in "Publishing for the Sake of Knowledge."